Born To Serve
by RicardianScholar Clark-Weasley
Summary: Nathalie was made to serve the Agreste family.


Gabriel had first met Nathalie when they had needed a babysitter for Adrien.

There had been a gala of some sort – there was _always_ a gala to attend and Gabriel could never distinguish them from one another - that he and Emilie couldn't get out of and there was no one available at the time. The Bourgeois couple would also be attending, Emilie's sister lived in London, and there was no one else that Gabriel and Emile could trust with their precious only child.

(By then they had made_ far too_ many enemies with their relentless quest for magic.)

So Emile, ever resourceful and clever at these things, conjured up Nathalie in their time of need.

Gabriel had taken one look at Nathalie's stiff posture, blank eyes, and immaculate appearance and had to repress a shudder from the _unnaturalness_ of it. She looked perfect but despite what Gabriel preached in his choice of business, appearances weren't everything. There was something lacking in Nathalie that felt _off._ His skin crawled every time he looked at those empty, expressionless, eyes.

"Darling," Gabriel said hesitatingly, "are you sure that this is the right choice for a babysitter? She's not exactly..._child friendly_, is she?"

"Don't be silly, my love!" Emilie laughed. "I trust Nathalie as much as I trust myself. Nathalie will do everything in her power to ensure Adrien's safety, won't you Nathalie?"

"Yes Ma'am," Nathalie replied flatly.

Gabriel grimaced at the monotone voice but didn't argue. There was no one in the world that Gabriel trusted more than his own beloved wife and if his wife thought this Nathalie was trustworthy, then who was he to argue? So instead he swallowed back his objections and allowed Emilie to usher him out of the room to get ready for the gala. He had, _of course_, spent the whole evening worrying over Adrien which made him far less polite and more snappish than he ought to be.

(Though Emilie would tease him later and said no one had noticed.)

He all but ran through Adrien's bedroom door to find his angelic son fast asleep with his blonde head burrowed in Nathalie's lap as she continued to read, in that ever constant monotone, a fairy tale out loud.

It made Snow White and the Seven Dwarves sound even grimmer than it actually was but that didn't seem to matter one little bit to Adrien whatsoever. Oddly enough, Adrien _adored _Nathalie and was sad to wake up to find her gone.

With no one else to trust and Adrien's fondness of his strange babysitter, Gabriel had no reason to object to Emile summoning Nathalie over and over again whenever they were required to leave Adrien at home.

If Adrien ever thought it was weird that his babysitter moved far too quickly with the rigid movements of a puppet breaking free of her strings or that it might be a little odd that Nathalie could leap from the ground floor to the first floor in one great big jump or that her voice was as emotionless as a computer's, he never said a word of it to Gabriel or Emilie.

Then again, the greatest joy of keeping Adrien homeschooled was that he thought their lives _were _normal.

That it was normal to have a house full of secret passages, and a mother who turned feathers blue, and a father surrounded by butterflies.

Of course, they couldn't keep Adrien _entirely_ secluded from the world and the older he got the more they had to hide from him.

The butterflies were assigned an attic room, the secret passages got new disguises, and Emilie stopped creating fun monsters to play with. _Just in case_. After all Adrien was beginning to play with Chloe a lot more and he could accidentally spill something to the little girl, who most certainly _could not_ keep a secret to save her life.

Just thinking about that pampered spoiled brat and her loud moth set Gabriel's teeth on edge. There was a reason why Andre insisted on all of Audrey's grimoires to be hidden away from prying eyes, and it wasn't just because he was running for city mayor.

For a while, Nathalie was not needed.

Adrien spent more time in the Bourgeois care and Gabriel found a trustworthy bodyguard whose vow of silence meant their secrets were safe from the world and prying eyes of the press.

...Then Gabriel's personal assistant tried to seduce him.

She was such an _insignificant thing_ and to this very date Gabriel couldn't recall her name for the life of him but that hadn't stopped the stupid harlot for thrusting her cleavage in his face as she straddled him right there and then in his office.

Emile had been furious.

Oh, _not at him_.

She knew that she was the only woman Gabriel had ever looked and nothing would ever change that either. No, it was the poor foolish child that Emilie unleashed all seven circles of hell upon as she dragged the woman kicking and screaming out of the office and physically flung her out of the house.

"I think," Emilie snarled as she glowered distastefully after the fleeing figure of his now ex-personal assistant, "that _**I **_will be the one picking your personal assistant from now on."

"Yes dear," Gabriel murmured.

It was unsurprising that Nathalie appeared that very next day and already she had his schedule for the next three months organised, his papers stacked not only neatly but in the order of importance and then chronologically, and a hot coffee made exactly how he liked it waiting for him on his desk. She worked long and hard without complaint, completed every task to perfection, and didn't have those pesky other commitments or feelings that all of his other personal assistants had.

There was no soggy tears or disgruntled grumbling from Nathalie whatsoever and that sort of silence and acceptance was soothing and encouraging to Gabriel's artistic soul.

His designs _flourished_ without the stress induced by other personal assistants.

In the end Gabriel had become accustomed to Nathalie's presence.

Then Emile's health took a nose dive for the worse.

That slight tickle in the back of her throat became a persistent cough, her usual golden complexion paled rapidly, and she was prone to collapsing midway a photo shoot regardless of the conditions. There was an endless sleuth of doctor appointments, hospital tests, and consulting thick, dusty, magical tomes in order to seek an answer to what was actually happening. Not one of them yielded an answer.

Until Duusu burst into tears when Emilie told him about her health and confessed all.

_The Peacock Broach had been poisoning Emilie all along! _

The more she used it the more it weakened her health and Emile, who had always been fascinated with magic and determined to be the best sorceress, had used it _frequently_.

Death was only a matter of today or tomorrow.

Well, _not on Gabriel's watch!_

He would not lose the love of his life when they were still so young and had so much to live for. Adrien was barely a teenager and Emilie had to live to see Adrien grow into a respectable man, to watch him graduate from university with honours, to witness him marry the love of his life, to hold their beloved grandchild...

_Emile would not be robbed of such joys!_

So they discussed it – and _argued _over it- and it took, strangely enough, Nathalie's calm, unfaltering – and forever _emotionless_ – logic to win Emilie over to inducing a medical coma in order to preserve her life. Nathalie had been unwavering as she helped Gabriel design the pod to preserve Emilie's life and build the underground garden to keep his wife hidden. She stayed steadfast and loyal for every little shady dealing and unethical decision to reach that goal.

For a moment, as Nathalie allowed Emilie to take hold of her hand and whisper hurriedly in her ear as Gabriel injected the medical drugs required, Gabriel could have sworn he actually saw something akin to emotion in Nathalie's eyes.

Her cold empty eyes looked warmer and softer for the briefest moment.

Nathalie's lips pulled into a small unfamiliar shape of a smile as she murmured, "I promise Ma'am," to Emilie and unnaturally (for Nathalie) squeezed his wife's hand reassuringly.

She looked almost _human_ for the first time he had known her.

A new wave of unease hit Gabriel whenever Nathalie was around after that.

Not at first, he had been to busy coaxing Nooroo into telling him more about the Miraculous, and plotting and hunting and desperately seeking a cure for his wife, but slowly he had noticed that Nathalie expressed feelings more and more often.

She looked guilty and ashamed when Adrien sulked in his room and sighed regretfully whenever his son sloped away with his head ducked down and shoulders hunched in. She looked warmer and brighter whenever Adrien smiled her way and occasionally she even shared a joke with Adrien's bodyguard.

It occurred to Gabriel, in a terrifyingly drawn out dawning sort of way, that Nathalie was _developing_ and _growing_, and he didn't know what to make of that. He didn't think she was _supposed_ to be developing and growing. Surely she wasn't? He found himself unnerved all over again around Nathalie but he was so _lonely_ on his path now and Nathalie was all he had left who wouldn't leave him. So he brushed those annoying feelings and bothersome thoughts away to one side and focused solely on his task.

Nothing could be more important than rescuing Emilie from her doomed fate.

Nathalie continued to be his confidant and partner in all things dubious as he failed over and over and _over _again thanks to the insufferable menace that was Ladybug and that scoundrel of a partner of hers, Char Noir.

He found himself opening up to her, discussing ideas, coming up with new plans, and Nathalie would listen without judgement and gave substantial input that assisted him greatly. It took a great deal more of coaxing and persuasive questioning to get Nooroo to reveal that he could _Akumatise Nathalie_ and have her gift him with additional powers.

Months of manipulation of a spiteful little brat to help with that delightful little show for Paris to witness and soon Gabriel found himself _**mere inches**_ away from victory. It was brutally snatched away from him by a group of meddling children and just as they were about to whip his Miraculous away there was a burst of vivid, familiar, blue feathers that swept him away.

"NO!" Gabriel bellowed.

For a horrifying but radiantly _hopefu_l moment he had thought Emile had woken up and dashed to his rescue. He was shocked to find Nathalie half collapsed beside him as she panted from the exertion.

She had never acted without being asked before.

She had become independent entirely now.

And _she was getting sick!_

Gabriel fretted relentlessly as he tucked Nathalie into bed. He had never seen Nathalie be anything but immaculate before and the sight of her vulnerable and weak made him nauseated with unease. Could someone like Nathalie be affected by the broken Miraculous? She could be Akumatised and that made her _human_, and by that definition vulnerable to malicious and broken magic.

He couldn't lose _Nathalie_!

She was his only companion on this dark, desperate, path that had no light to be seen at the end.

He couldn't drag his beloved son down this path, Emilie would have his guts for garters if he did, and his friends from those days long gone were no longer trustworthy enough to ask for help. Andre would have him arrested, Audrey would probably steal the Miraculous for herself, and he couldn't be sure what his Japanese connections would do either.

Nathalie was the only one and without her to remind him of his goal he might lose his way and give up entirely.

The months dragged out after Nathalie started to use the Peacock Miraculous. Her health deteriorated rapidly to the point that even _Adrien_, sweet oblivious Adrien who never noticed how wrong and inhuman the people in his life were, noticed she was unwell. They were no closer to reaching their goal and more and more Miraculous wielders were appearing out of the woodwork.

The frustration was beginning to get to him but a small smile from Nathalie tended to soothe him immediately.

He tried to not think to hard about _why_ that was the case.

Nathalie had grown on him and dug her way into his heart in a way very few ever could and it wasn't something he wished to dwell on it. To dwell on it would be to admit something he couldn't even admit to himself.

Even if others could see it too now.

The anniversary of placing Emilie into her medical coma arrived with no change whatsoever apart from now Nathalie was ill too. Under the uncharacteristically soft encouragements of Nathalie as her eyes sparkled as adoringly as Emilie's used to, Gabriel tried to confess his sins to Adrien.

He was going to explain everything he could from discovering that magic was real, to using the Miraculous, to Emilie's illness, and finally why he had taken the mantle of the villain in order to obtain a cure.

He barely formed a sentence when Adrien smiled radiantly up at him. "I already know, Father," he said brightly, "and I think it's wonderful! Nathalie is already like family and-"

Gabriel couldn't remember exactly _what _he had said to Adrien but he knew he had done it badly and had bitten his son's head off terribly.

Him and Nathalie?

_Never!_

It was _inconceivable_.

Adrien had no idea what he was suggesting and how _wrong,_ it was.

His ire and desperation, which was especially stoked by that conniving sister in law and nephew of his, led him to make his outlandish plan yet.

It didn't succeed as he wished it did but it wasn't an entire loss either.

His near victory with Miraculous Queen had won him new knowledge and the ability to fix the Peacock Broach but he was nowhere near to finding a cure for his beloved wife. It didn't matter though. The scales had tipped into his balance.

Nathalie's health was still damaged but she was no longer _deteriorating_ and could help in the battlefield more frequently.

It sped the process up a great deal more and before Gabriel knew it, the final battle was upon them. Ladybug was on the ropes and Chat Noir was on the verge of being cornered, and Gabriel could almost taste his wife's kiss on his lips...

"**CATACLYSM!**"

Desperation had spurred Chat Noir on as he grappled on Nathalie's face and released his power of destruction upon her. Nathalie flew back and her transformation broke just as she collapsed onto the cold ground beneath her.

"NATHALIE!"

Chat Noir looked horrified – _as he should!_ \- as he too staggered towards Nathalie. Gabriel got there first though and elbowed the stray hard in the face as he huddled Nathalie into his arms. "_Nathalie!_" he choked out. "Nathalie! Just hold on! Just hold on a little longer and..."

But it was too late.

Her eyes were empty and blank as the day he had first met her while cracks formed in her cheek as if her skin was made of porcelain china. The cracks were loud in the deafening silence as they spread out wider and bigger like a spider's web before Nathalie's cheek caved in entirely and her body turned to dust that slipped through his fingers.

The jewel blue feather that Emilie had placed inside her _so long ago_ floated away, free for a moment, just a fleeting moment Nathalie's spirit was finally_ free. _

Gabriel crumpled to his hands and knees, devastated, as Ladybug cruelly cleansed the last little remanent of Emilie's soul from the world.


End file.
